*SPOILERS AND KEY PLOT POINTS WILL BE DISCUSSED*
There are times I sit down to write a review, and my thoughts are pretty easy to pin down. I would argue my recent review of SATURDAY NIGHT is a prime example of this.
This is NOT one of those times.
I feel like The Substance just appeared out of nowhere earlier this year when it made quite the splash at the Cannes Film Festival where it netted a win for its writer/director Coralie Fargeat in the Screenplay competition.
When it made its eventual US premiere back in September, the response was simultaneously rapturous and revolting...which is about what one might expect for a body horror film. However, what made a lot of this buzz very interesting to follow was that it seemed to be the next entry in the "Can This Horror Film Get Nominated for Awards?" discussion that has seemed to happen every year since Toni Collette got unfairly shafted for her work in Ari Aster's brutal horror drama Hereditary during the 2019 award season.
While it is still early...at least in case from what I have seen so far...2024 is shaping up to be a rather meager year for film, and this isn't a surprise. I sort of feel like I expected a dip after the 2023 Writers Strike, but it also just feels especially jarring considering 2023 shaped up to be one of my favorite years for film of this century so far.
While this question will age poorly depending on the outcome, one has to wonder: can The Substance actually break into the awards race in several major categories?
There seems to be a pretty obvious divide with this opinion with some thinking it'll actually slip into the Picture, Actress, Screenplay races along with a couple of tech categories while some think it'll be lucky to just get the Makeup/Hairstyling nomination.
If I were to make the prediction now, I think that it will actually score a couple of those major nominations based on enough of the passion the film has...but it'll be interesting to see how it pans out considering very, very, very, very few horror films get nominated for Best Picture...let alone one that is a rather graphic body horror film.
Does that mean I love the film personally?
Honestly, I wouldn't say I loved it...but I am not sure if it is an easy movie to love. Although, I love the idea of it being embraced with nominations because this is a movie that took big, bold chances addressing issues that are clearly a huge problem for women not just in Hollywood, but in general...and I would argue that despite some quibbles, Fargeat created a truly vibrant, shocking, graphic experience here.
This is a film that lacks subtlety, and at times, that did pull me out of it in ways I wish it didn't...and while this may seem like a drastic comparison, it sort of reminded me of Don't Look Up.
Before some of you get very angry at that comment, I will say The Substance was certainly better than Don't Look Up, which I did like to some degree, but that was a film that opted for pushing its message forward with the subtlety of a sledgehammer to the face. Comedically though, it worked well a lot of the time in that film, and it made the final act all the more poignant. It also served to respond to how little people seemed to respond to the insanity of what was happening around them...and in that film's case, it was the clear end of the world that was upon them and the clear Trump team parallels that led the charge with their obtuseness.
Here, Fargeat takes the idea of a woman being pushed to the brink because she is being told she is too old and dated in style and presents in ways that are at times cartoonish and campy, but also horrific and tragic.
The protagonist is Elisabeth Sparkle, played by Demi Moore, who is a fading Hollywood movie star who...strangely...hosts a primetime fitness show because THAT would actually happen. She is fired by her producer Harvey (Dennis Quaid) over a lunch where he sloppily eats shrimp and has the inner depth of a sidewalk puddle. Being named Harvey is another clear blunt example of Fargeat going for the obvious, but hey...a shallow character may as well be treated with no real care.
When Elisabeth leaves to go home, she notices a billboard of hers being promptly torn down and her distraction leads to a pretty brutal car accident. Miraculously, she seems to have survived it fairly unscathed but is clearly distraught. The young nurse in the room waits for the doctor to leave and he proceeds to check her spine. After cryptically telling her she would be a perfect candidate, he slips her a flash drive advertising a black-market serum called "The Substance", which promises a "younger, more beautiful, more perfect" version of oneself.
Elisabeth injects the serum, collapses to the floor with convulsions, and essentially births her perfect younger self from a slit formed right at her spine. And thus, we get Sue, played by Margaret Qualley.
Her first assignment is to answer the casting call that from the paper that announced that the search for the new Elisabeth Sparkle is underway...with the caveat that she must be within the age range of 18-30.
As we expect, she singlehandedly impresses Harvey and his gaggle of sleazy cads to land the gig, proving that she was always the right one for the job, but now seemingly has the youth to seem worthy of the gig.
As expected though, the inner demons of Elisabeth cause her to battle herself but the message from the guy from "The Substance" is clear: this is all her own doing. Sue is Elisabeth/Elisabeth is Sue. And that is when the film begins to progress down its more abstract and darker path.
As a queer man, I do hear a lot about and have even felt a certain uneasiness with growing older...but at the same time, I also find myself wholly embracing it. This is why as a man, especially a cis white man, I know that I have no authority to speak on this experience because I can clearly see from the outside that what women are put through in pretty much every aspect, Hollywood or not, is atrocious.
We are a watching a woman being so desperate to hold onto everything she knows and her youth that she goes deep into an old warehouse to retrieve a serum that she truly knows nothing about and then injects it inside of her.
This is where I think Demi Moore excels because she truly makes us believe this journey, even if it is clearly heightened to an almost cartoonish satirical level.
Moore has never been nominated for an Oscar, and has only ever had a couple of nominations from organizations like the Golden Globes, but I would say she could very well find herself making the list this year. Considering the fine lines she has to stomp down, I love how much she embraced this role with complete abandon. In many ways, you could argue how this role progresses leads her into the "hagsplotation" area that was created by Bette Davis in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?
Moore is tragic, angry, passionate, fiery, hilarious, and horrific...and I hope that she will get the attention she deserves. Also - she looks absolutely fantastic and it only further proves how asinine the treatment of women is in the Hollywood system.
Then we have Margaret Qualley and much like Moore, she has charisma that simply sparks off the screen and, I have to admit, she looks totally hot in this role. Fargeat clearly filmed a lot of Qualley's scenes as if it were she exploiting her in a "male gaze" manner and it is absolutely affective. You could even argue that her Sue is the film's "villain" but that is where the whole idea of this narrative is fascinating because she is still Elisabeth in the end.
I do think the film does drag a bit and could've used an edit, especially during the final 45 minutes or so, but within that final act, the film pretty much goes HARD. The practical effects used on Moore and Qualley are magnificent. I can't speak for the upcoming Nosferatu as I have not seen it and the early reviews say the makeup is exceptional in it...but if there is any justice, The Substance will win that category.
I have battled with a lot of inner thoughts about this film, not certain if I loved it or found it to be too abrasive in the wrong ways. I won't say that I loved it necessarily or say that it is a masterpiece, but I do highly admire what Fargeat achieved here.
It is gross, it is unnerving, it is campy, it is tragic...and it is also highly vibrant and stylish, and even reminiscent over classic horror films...particularly The Shining and a lot of the Kubrick style cinematography/aesthetics.
Maybe I would've appreciated a little more digging into the characters, but alas, I think Fargeat deserves to be commended here and I am definitely curious to see what she comes up with next.
THE SUBSTANCE
RATING: 7.5/10
